Followers

Sunday, April 05, 2015

Why Kenyans Die In Vain

147.

The figure was a blow that sent one’s senses reeling. I was
expecting a high number but 147 left me numb. I47 lives brutally snuffed out in
a horrific, day-long orgy of killing. It is almost too much to grapple with, to
ponder.

Yet ponder it we must. For even as the Cabinet Secretary for
Internal Security, Joseph ole Nkaissery, solemnly announced the number that
would make this the worst terrorist attack on Kenyan soil in nearly two
decades, questions were already forming about whether this was just the latest
in a series of eminently preventable terrorist atrocities that have now claimed
more than 350 lives in the last two years.

The
attack had begun about 16 hours before NKaissery’s announcement. Before
dawn, four gunmen had stormed the Garissa University College, located within
the eponymous county, killing two guards and then opening fire on students who
had gathered for morning prayer. Then, as panic and terror spread, they moved
to the four student accommodation buildings, killing at will.

By the time most Kenyans were getting the news, a
coordinated response by the Kenya Police and the Kenya Defense forces was
already underway and for once the security forces seemed to have learnt the
lessons from the shambolic responses to previous attacks. Unlike the attacks in Mpeketoni
in June 2014 in which more than 60 people were killed, it did not take more
than six hours for the first security agencies to arrive. Some reports suggest
a KDF unit was on the ground within an hour although they were largely
ineffective in stopping the killings.

In contrast with the
confused response to the September 2013 attack on the upmarket Westgate
Shopping Mall in Nairobi, at first glance the coordination between police and military units seemed
much smoother. Certainly the media statements were much better choreographed.
But there the differences end.

Like most other attacks, there was prior
warning that this might happen. Along with other universities in Nairobi,
the Garissa University College had warned students about a possible attack and
police presence there had been doubled to four officers. A few days prior, the
British government had issued a travel advisory to its
citizens advising against travel to Garissa, among other counties. Such
advisories, which the Kenya government continues to blame for the collapse in
the tourism industry, were rubbished
by President Uhuru Kenyatta the day before the attack.

Also, at Westgate, the famed elite police unit, the Recce
Company, was forced to pull out early in the operation after their commander
was shot by the KDF, allowing the terrorists to kill many more people than they
otherwise would have. This time, their arrival at the Garissa University
College was delayed by up to 11 hours, even though it apparently took them less
than half an hour to end the siege. Just as it was stunning two years ago
to hear the then Cabinet Secretary for Internal Security, Joseph ole Lenku, dismiss
claims that the operation at Westgate was botched, so it is dumbfounding to
today hear a spokesman for the Ministry describe the delay in deploying the
Recce Company as “reasonable”.

Even worse, last year, under the pretext of responding to
terror attacks, the government forced through Parliament draconian legislation
to curtail fundamental rights to privacy, expression and a fair trial, which
was subsequently ruled
unconstitutional by the courts. Similarly, after the latest Garissa
atrocity, President Kenyatta has once again responded with another directive
of dubious legality, directing the police to ignore a court order that had
frozen police recruitment following a corruption-riddled exercise last year.

Predictably, and as they did after Westgate, Kenya’s
rapacious political elite has closed ranks to frustrate any prospect of
accountability, with the leader of the opposition CORD coalition, Raila Odinga,
coming
out in support of the President’s illegal directive.

So, while on the surface it may have seemed that the Kenyan
government had learnt some lessons, a closer inspection reveals that this is
little more than window dressing. Fundamentally, nothing has changed except the
government’s ability to project change. It is still treating security
challenges primarily as public relations problems.

On Tuesday, the President’s spokesman, Manoah Esipisu, was asked about his
boss’ promise in the aftermath of the Westgate attacks to institute a
comprehensive inquiry into the security failures. He said that the President
had concluded that a Parliamentary committee report (which Parliament itself
through out as incompetent) and a forensic audit (which no one has seen) had
provided all there was to know about the affair.

In truth, the President had
deemed the country’s security less important than the egos and jobs of his
top security officials. If you want to understand why 147 people died at the
hands of terrorists two days later, and why for the last two years Kenyans have
continued to regularly perish in large numbers at the hands of terrorists, that
tells you everything you need to know.